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Federal Minister since 6 May 2025

DorotheeBär

Federal Minister for Research, Technology and Space

Born in Bamberg in 1978, Dorothee Bär has represented the CSU in the German Bundestag since 2002 and the Bad Kissingen constituency since 2009. Before taking charge of the new Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) in Friedrich Merz's cabinet, she served as Parliamentary State Secretary for transport and digital infrastructure (2013–2018), as Minister of State and Federal Government Commissioner for Digitalisation under Angela Merkel (2018–2021), and as deputy chair of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group (2021–2025).

  • Research
  • Technology
  • Digitalisation
  • Space
  • Public leadership
Read the biography The ministry today
Portrait of Dorothee Bär speaking at a press conference in front of a blue flag

Constituency 247 · Bad Kissingen — 50.5% of first votes in 2025

2002

Member of the German Bundestag since the 15th electoral term

Source: Deutscher Bundestag
50.5%

First-vote share in Bad Kissingen in 2025, the highest of any constituency winner nationwide

Source: Deutscher Bundestag
€21.8bn

Core BMFTR budget adopted for 2026, plus special-fund resources

Source: Deutscher Bundestag
6

Key technologies named in the High-Tech Agenda Germany, adopted 30 July 2025

Source: Bundesregierung

01 — Trajectory

From digitalisation to frontier technology

The themes of today's ministry did not arrive all at once. They accumulated across distinct offices, each with its own mandate and limits.

  1. 2010s · Party & parliament

    Digital government

    As chair of CSUnet, the CSU's net-policy association, and later as Commissioner for Digitalisation, she argued for a state that delivers services online.

  2. 2013–2018 · BMVI

    Technology

    At the transport and digital infrastructure ministry: broadband funding, connected and automated driving, drones and logistics.

  3. 2018–2021 · Chancellery

    Research & data

    Coordinating digital policy across government with the Digital Council, the implementation strategy and the Digital Cabinet.

  4. 2021–2025 · Parliament

    Innovation

    As deputy group chair for family, culture and media, including games and the creative industries, she stayed close to technology and society.

  5. Since 2025 · BMFTR

    Space

    A ministry that combines research funding with technology policy, space and the High-Tech Agenda.

Analysis  This is not a single straight line. Between 2009 and 2013 and again from 2021 to 2025 her parliamentary portfolio centred on family, women, youth, culture and media. Her move into research and space policy in 2025 came with the cabinet formation of the Merz government and the reorganisation of ministries; it was not the result of a long specialisation in science.

02 — Career at a glance

Seven milestones, three decades

Dates follow the official biographies of the German Bundestag and the Federal Government. Open the full timeline.

  1. 1992

    Junge Union

    Joins the Junge Union, the CDU/CSU youth organisation; CSU membership follows in 1994.

  2. 2001

    CSU executive

    Member of the CSU party executive and state chair of RCDS Bavaria (2001–2003).

  3. 2002

    Bundestag

    Elected via the CSU state list at 24; directly elected for Bad Kissingen since 2009.

  4. 2013

    Transport & digital

    Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure.

  5. 2018

    Digitalisation

    Minister of State at the Federal Chancellery and Federal Government Commissioner for Digitalisation.

  6. 2021

    Group leadership

    Deputy chair of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, responsible for family and culture.

  7. 2025

    Federal Minister

    Sworn in on 6 May 2025 as Federal Minister for Research, Technology and Space.

03 — Current portfolio

One ministry, three mandates

The organisational decree of 6 May 2025 turned the former Federal Ministry of Education and Research into the BMFTR. School and vocational education moved to a new education and family ministry. Space, including the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the High-Tech Agenda and core technology policy moved in from the economics ministry.

R · 01Research

Federal funding for universities and research organisations, the Excellence Strategy with the Länder, research security and international talent. Germany's R&D spending reached 3.17% of GDP in 2024.

Research policy

T · 02Technology

The High-Tech Agenda Germany sets out six key technologies: artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, microelectronics, biotechnology, fusion and climate-neutral energy, and climate-neutral mobility.

Technology policy

S · 03Space

A new directorate for space and security brings federal space responsibilities together, including Germany's role in the European Space Agency, Earth observation and satellite navigation.

Space policy

04 — Digital government legacy

The Chancellery years, 2018–2021

As Minister of State to Chancellor Angela Merkel and the government's first Commissioner for Digitalisation, Bär had a coordinating role, not a ministry of her own.

She worked alongside the new Digital Council of external experts, which first met in August 2018, and the government's implementation strategy "Digitalisierung gestalten" (Shaping Digitalisation). Within the Digital Cabinet she coordinated the round of state secretaries and was the government's public voice on digital policy, from data and artificial intelligence to e-sports.

Criticism followed the role from the start: its powers and budget were unclear, and the Online Access Act's 2022 target for digital administrative services, which the Interior Ministry was responsible for, was missed. The digitalisation dossier sets out both sides.

DigitalisationGovernment modernisation
Dorothee Bär standing next to Chancellor Angela Merkel in a glass-walled building
Dorothee Bär with Chancellor Angela Merkel, in whose Chancellery she served as Minister of State from 2018 to 2021.

05 — Space

Europe's largest contributor to ESA

At the ESA Council at Ministerial Level in Bremen in November 2025, Germany subscribed €5.4 billion, about 23 per cent of the total. That made it the largest contributor. The priorities named by the German Aerospace Center included competition between launchers, lunar and robotic exploration, climate satellites, secure communications and space security. In September 2026 the Bavarian start-up Isar Aerospace reached orbit with its Spectrum rocket from Andøya in Norway.

„Raumfahrt ist eine Investition in unsere Zukunft. Mit Deutschland und Europa ist in der Raumfahrt zu rechnen.“

“Space is an investment in our future. Germany and Europe are a force to be reckoned with in space.”
Documented statement Dorothee Bär, ESA Ministerial Council, November 2025, via DLR
Explore space policy
Dorothee Bär wearing a blue ESA flight jacket with her name badge and the German flag
Wearing a European Space Agency jacket with the ESA 50th-anniversary patch.

06 — Explore

Chart a path through the record

Thirty-three pages, each built as a standalone reference with sources. Labels distinguish verified fact, documented statement, political position, analysis and criticism.